【Attack on Sun Jian】

Just when the sour jujube coalition was disbanded and the princes from all walks of life gave up one after another, only the princes of the first road were still insisting.

After Sun Jian was defeated by Xu Rong, he did not lose his fighting spirit but slowly collected stragglers all the way and occupied the people of Taiguyang. And use this as a base to ask Yuan Shu for support and take strict precautions in order to make a comeback. Soon Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu refused to negotiate peace with Dong Zhuo, so Dong Zhuo took Hu Zhen as the protector of the capital, Lu Bu as the cavalry governor, and the governor Huaxiong and others led the cavalry army to crusade against Yuan Shu's subordinate Sun Jian. Hu Zhen's personality is not very good and anxious, and before sending out the army, he threatened to kill a general as a means of purging military discipline. This offended many generals, including Lu Bu, and everyone wanted to give him a good look. Dong Zhuojun's unfought generals had fallen out of harmony and suffered a crushing defeat to Sun Jian, and Dong Zhuojun's governor Huaxiong was also beheaded for public display.

Sun Jian became famous in the first battle, which was the first time that the troops of the princes of all walks of life defeated the Xiliang army. At this time, some villains were jealous, so they said to Sun Jian's monarch Yuan Shu: "If Sun Jian occupies Luoyang and develops his power, it will be difficult to restrain it. If it is allowed to develop, won't it get rid of one wolf and one more tiger? ”

Yuan Shu was brave and undecisive, and he was really suspicious, so he stopped transporting grain and grass to Sun Jian. Sun Jian's army was short of food, feeling anxious, at that time the Yang people were more than 100 miles away from Luyang, where Yuan Shu was, Sun Jian rushed back to Luyang day and night to see Yuan Shu, he used a knife to analyze the situation, and said to Yuan Shu: "I am so dedicated, I am so dedicated to the country, the upper is to crusade against the traitors, and the lower is to avenge the general's personal vendettas." I, Sun Jian, and Dong Zhuo have no bitter hatred, but you, general, listened to the villain's words and actually doubted me!" Yuan Shu suddenly felt very guilty for Sun Jian, and realized that he had done something wrong, so he immediately transferred military rations, and Sun Jian soon returned to the station.

Dong Zhuo felt the threat of Sun Jian, since the hard one can't work, then come to the soft one. Dong Zhuo sent Li Dao as an envoy and wanted to marry Sun Jian, and even told Sun Jian that as long as he agreed, he could open a list at will, and Dong Zhuo could let them serve as local governors for those relatives, friends, and clansmen listed above.

But Sun Jian is not Lu Bu, he refused, and said to everyone: "Dong Zhuo is rebellious, overthrowing the royal family, and now he will not punish his three clans, but show the whole country, I will not be blind to death, do you still want to make peace with him!" After Sun Jian rejected Dong Zhuo, Dong Zhuo not only didn't care, but admired Sun Jian even more.

Soon Sun Jian finished regrouping his troops, and he led a large army into Dagu, and the troops advanced all the way to a distance of ninety miles from Luoyang. In order to meet Sun Jian, Dong Zhuo personally led the troops to fight, and the two sides launched a decisive battle in the area of the mausoleum of the first emperor. Sun Jian then led his troops to Luoyang and began a battle with Lü Bu, who was guarding Luoyang, and Sun Jian finally entered Luoyang City through the Xuanyang Gate and repelled Lü Bu. In this way, Sun Jian won three battles and three victories, and successfully recovered the former Han capital.

According to the Book of Wu, Sun Jian later obtained the jade seal in Luoyang City.

After occupying Luoyang, Sun Jian ordered the troops to clean the temple of the Han Dynasty, sacrifice with the rites of the Taigao, divide the troops to send a letter to Guguan, and go to Xin'an and Mianchi to defend Dong Zhuo's army. Subsequently, Yuan Shao saw that Sun Jian continued to win, and in order to prevent Yuan Shu from becoming bigger, he appointed Zhou Ang (some say Zhou Yu, some say Zhou Xin) as the assassin of Yuzhou (Note 1), and led his troops to capture Sun Jian's base Yangcheng. In this way, Sun Jian's offensive was also forced to be interrupted, and Dong Zhuo's crusade actually ended here, and then the princes went their own way and attacked each other, the authority of the Son of Heaven plummeted, the troubled times had come, and the era of division had come.

【The Theory of the Jade Seal】

In history, there is controversy about whether Sun Jian obtained the jade seal of the country.

Although there is no clear record of this incident in the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms", I personally believe that the matter of Sun Jian's seal is relatively clear based on the existing materials.

The "Book of Wu" clearly records that Sun Jian obtained the seal when he recovered Luoyang, and there is also a record of Yuan Shu detaining Sun Jian's wife to seize the seal in the "Records of the Duke of Shanyang", and there is a record of Xu Xuan returning to the Han Dynasty after Yuan Shu's death in the "Acts of the Sages".

【Yuan Shu and Sun Jian】

In Dong Zhuo's crusade, Sun Jian did shine, and his credit was far above everyone, and in the end, he almost relied on his own strength to recover Luoyang and repel Dong Zhuo, but there is one person who should not be ignored, his merit is strictly not under Sun Jian, needless to say that he is Sun Jian's boss ——— Yuan Shu.

If Sun Jian was not under Yuan Shu, he would never have made such a great contribution in history. In addition to following Yuan Shu, no matter whether Sun Jian goes to sour dates or Hanoi, he can't be reused. There are many princes in the sour jujube coalition army, and it is the base camp of the anti-Dong coalition army, but most of the princes are tempting each other, and no one is willing to fight Dong Zhuo sincerely, otherwise Cao Cao would not have gone to Yuan Shao's side. As for Hanoi's side, Yuan Shao really wanted to fight, but it was a pity that his grain and grass were pinched by Han Fu, and the soldiers and horses did not move the grain and grass first, you still want to win the battle without these?

Yuan Shu is indeed not a good person in history, but we can't ignore the historical facts and pour all the dirty water on him, nor can we ignore his merits in history. Although it is not mentioned in the history books, Yuan Shu should have transferred all the troops on his front line to Sun Jian, and even he personally basically only provided food and grass for Sun Jian alone, otherwise he really thought that Sun Jian would be defeated by those remnants of the army who were disabled by Xu Rong, and then he could make a big turnaround, fight three battles and three victories, and beat Dong Zhuo out of Luoyang, don't really think that Sun Jian is invincible in the world.

As I said earlier, after the disbandment of the sour jujube coalition army, in fact, there was only one road where the princes fought alone, and the princes of this road were Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu persevered to the end, and he and Sun Jian finally recovered Luoyang, if it weren't for his brother Yuan Shao dragging his feet, and finally restoring the Han family, it would not be impossible to recover Chang'an. It is true that Yuan Shu has also heard slander and cut off Sun Jian's supply, but after Sun Jian and Yuan Shu talked face-to-face, Yuan Shu immediately repented in person and fully supported Sun Jian again, and how many monarchs can immediately know their mistakes and change them in person! If it weren't for Yuan Shu's persistence, if it weren't for Yuan Shu's trust, if it wasn't for Yuan Shu's support, how could Sun Jian have achieved such a great achievement and such a great achievement? Yuan Shu's credit for the battle of Dong is actually at the head of everyone! (Yuan Shu and Sun Jian tied for first)

Note 1: Zhou Xin, Zhou Ang, and Zhou Qiao are three brothers, recorded as Zhou Ang in Wei Shuba in the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Zhou Xin in Wu Shuyi, and Zhou Qiao in the Book of the Later Han.

ps: The matter of Yuan Shu and Sun Jian will be discussed later, and I will talk about it today.